HARTFORD -- A month ago, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers were trying to figure out how to keep a team from scoring five goals, let alone produce a shutout.

Without a slew of regulars Thursday, Bridgeport got an early goal for the second night in a row, got 36 saves from Kevin Poulin, and beat the Connecticut Whale 3-0 at the XL Center.

"It was a great game overall, for me and as a team," Poulin said. "It's good for a team to have a shutout once in a while. It gives you confidence you can do the job."

The Sound Tigers beat the Whale by a combined 8-2 in their home-and-home out of the Christmas break. Poulin, who'd backed up Anders Nilsson six times in a row earlier this month, stopped 61 of 63 shots.

"He was really sharp," Bridgeport coach Scott Pellerin said. "I thought he made some huge saves. He didn't give up a lot of rebounds."

The Sound Tigers did it Thursday with five defensemen for the last 52 minutes. Marc Cantin left the game after a hard hit from top New York Rangers prospect Dylan McIlrath, who was making his season debut after an offseason dislocated kneecap.

Poulin made his first big save just before a rush on the third shift of the game, one that netted Chad Costello his first AHL goal as he got behind Steven Delisle.

"It was a two-on-two, and I just tried to beat my man to the net," Costello said. "(Matt) Watkins made an unbelievable backhand saucer pass."

Costello got the puck back to Matt Donovan for a power-play goal late in the first period. He has three points in two games, including an assist Saturday on linemate Jack Combs' goal.

"I'm liking the way (Costello) has played coming in," Pellerin said. "He's making plays and playing his game. Obviously, we have many offensive players who have speed, who are physical, but we need guys who make plays."

John Persson scored in the second after Watkins collected a McIlrath turnover and began a play from him to Persson to Colin McDonald and back to Persson for a reaching tap-in. That was more than enough.

Bridgeport caught a break in the first when a Poulin pass hit a teammate and caromed to Kelsey Tessier just inside the center-ice faceoff circle. With Poulin out of the net, Tessier's shot hit the left post.

That's as close as the Whale got despite generating more chances Thursday than Wednesday.

Bridgeport was without seven injured players, including leading scorer Nino Niederreiter, who scored two goals early in Wednesday's win but took a stick in the face soon after. The preliminary indication is the team doesn't think he'll miss much time, but he'll be evaluated Friday.